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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Murky Turkish soccer politics mesh with massive corruption scandal

Always murky, Turkish soccer politics have become even
murkier as a politics-laden match-fixing scandal meshes with a corruption
investigation that targets Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his closest
associates.

Defendants in both scandals – Mr. Erdogan and the management
of one of Turkey’s most storied clubs – portray the allegations against them as
part of a power struggle between the prime minister and a self-exiled preacher
who heads one of the world’s most formidable Islamist movements.

To tens of thousands of anti-government protesters mobilized
last Sunday by fans of Istanbul’s Fenerbahce Spor Kulubu for the largest
anti-government demonstration since last June’s Gezi Park protests on
Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the two scandals are expressions of a growing rot in
Turkish politics and society. The protesters called for justice not only for
Fenerbahce but all of Turkey, expressed support for Fenerbahce chairman Aziz
Yildirim who is appealing a conviction on match fixing charges, and denounced
Mr. Erdogan as a thief.

Like last year’s Gezi Park protests, the largest in Mr.
Erdogan’s decade in office in which soccer fans played a key role, Sunday’s Fenerbahce
march reflected growing public anger at
a prime minister who has become increasingly haughty and authoritarian. The
Gezi Park protests, sparked by government plans to replace a park with a
shopping mall, were a precursor for the corruption investigation into public
works, zoning and ties between senior government officials and prominent
businessmen.

Few doubt that Turkish soccer is riddled with match-fixing
and hampered by an incestuous relationships with politics. That was no more
evident when two years ago Mr. Yildirim was indicted with 92 others for
match-fixing. Mr. Yildirim, who has denied the charges, was sentenced to six
years in prison and is now engaged in his final appeal. He could be put behind
bars for several years and banned for life from professional soccer.

Fans chanted “Establish a [political] party, Aziz Yıldırım” and
“Thief Tayyip Erdogan,” a slogan often heard during Fenerbahce matches even
though the club has long been viewed as nationalist. The denunciation of Mr.
Erdogan contradicted Mr. Yildirim’s implicit suggestions that the prime
minister’s Islamist rival, Fethullalh Gulen, manipulated the court verdicts.
Mr. Gulen, who heads a global educational empire and owns some of Turkey’s most
influential media, is believed to have significant sway in Turkey’s judiciary
and police force.

A battle two years ago between Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Gulen
over how to handle the match fixing scandal effectively amounted to a struggle
for control of Fenerbahce, the crown political jewel in Turkish soccer because
of its tens of millions of supporters.

“As I said from the very beginning, the court case regarding
match-fixing in Turkey is a political case, and the ruling of this case has
also been made politically. I do not respect or recognize this court,” Mr.
Yildirim said last month after losing his first appeal. Fenerbahce issued a
press release this week peppered with quotes of Mr. Erdogan’s pointing the
finger at Mr. Gulen’s alleged control of the judiciary.

“We would like to declare to the global public opinion; the
only truth lying before Turkey in the aftermath of this operation which now
lacks any sense of legitimacy is that, the right to fair trial, in accordance
with the European Convention of Human Rights and the judgments and decisions of
the European Court of Human Rights, is a must for all Turkey, and in
particular, Fenerbahce Sports Club,” the club said in its statement.

The divergence of opinion on Mr. Erdogan, a Fenerbahce
member and former soccer player, between fans and the club’s management
reflects the corruption scandal’s rekindling of widespread public discontent
that exploded last summer on Taksim Square.

Mr. Erdogan who is serving his third term initially came to
office with a record of being clean in a country in which politicians are
perceived to be corrupt. He risks, as a result of the latest corruption scandal,
losing that aura.

Mr. Erdogan portrays the corruption scandal that has
implicated the sons of three ministers and the head of a state-owned bank
alongside prominent businessmen with government ties and could embroil the
prime minister’s son as a power grab by a state within the state, a reference
to Mr. Gulen. The two men joined forces early in Mr. Erdogan’s rule in
successfully subjecting Turkey’s powerful military to civilian supervision.

Mr. Gulen’s movement was further instrumental in the initial
rise of Turkey’s appeal across the Middle East, North Africa and in sub-Saharan
Africa by employing its vast global network to pave the way for Turkish
diplomacy and business. Mr. Gulen and Mr. Erdogan have since gradually parted
ways as they appealed for support to different segments of conservative Turkish
society.

The case of Mr. Yildirim, a defence contractor with long-standing
ties to the government, has been enmeshed in politics since day one. Mr.
Erdogan drove through parliament a bill that limited punishment for match
fixing immediately after the scandal erupted despite opposition from President
Abdullah Gul, who like Mr. Gulen, favoured the existing severe penalties. Mr.
Gulen was believed to have viewed the match fixing scandal as an opportunity to
replace Mr. Yildirim with someone closer to his Cemaat movement.

Three months later Mr. Erdogan got the Turkish Football Federation
(TFF) to clear Fenerbahce and others of charges of match-fixing. That did not
stop the judiciary from pursuing the scandal as a criminal matter. It took
however the eruption of the broader construction and public works scandal for
Mr. Erdogan to remove prosecutors and police officers whom he believed were
associated with Mr. Gulen.

The controversial TFF decision came three months after the
soccer body against Mr. Erdogan’s wish rejected a proposal backed by the prime
minister that would have shielded clubs guilty of match fixing from being
relegated. The defeat of the proposal prompted the TFF’s three top officials,
including its vice chairman, Goksel Gumusdag, a brother-in-law of Mr. Erdogan,
to resign.

Mr. Erdogan’s involvement resembled more recent reports in
leaked tapes and statements by journalists about how the prime minister and
members of his government regularly pressure editors and reporters to change
their reporting to suit the government’s political needs. The prime minister
has in recent days also rammed through parliament legislation that gives the
government greater control of the judiciary and Internet access.

“The judiciary has been used as a weapon against all the
opposition no matter what field of social life is it coming from. Fenerbahce,
its members and its fans are protesting against the tricks and the system.
Enough is enough. We stand against illegality, a gang-led legal system and
anti-democratic establishments,” said a lawyer and fervent Fenerbahce fan.

James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University. He is also co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute
for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same
title.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile